A whole new LIFE
by Atticusplease
Summary: Max has lived in a cruel orphanage her entire life. What happens when the Martinez Family decides to adopt Max. Max's new life will finally begin, but what happens when she realizes a girl next door is being abused just like she was not too long ago?
1. Chapter 1

It was a long day for Max Ride. She had just finished sweeping the floor and making the beds for all rooms of the orphanage, and tucking in her favorite child, Gazzy.

Gazzy was strong for his age. He had broad shoulders and spiked up blonde hair. His eyes were always tired and gloomy, but that didn't stop Max from loving the handsome ten years old. Max always thought to herself that one day when he's adopted she would not be able to be as strong as she was in this shit.

"Get your asses up, you scrummy little good for nothing children!" Mrs. Goldren hollered. Her voice echoed throughout the tiny room of six children so loud that everyone sat up alarmed in the next second. Her big frame made its way to Max with a threatening death glare.

"Maxine-"

"It's Max." Gazzy corrected quietly. Mrs. Goldren turned to face him, but right when she was about to slap his already bruised face, Max held on to Mrs. Goldren's hand so Gazzy could make a run for it behind the bed.

"Get your filthy hand off me, ugly, blonde creature!" And Max took the slap instead. Hiding the pain that the slap had caused her, Max got up off the bed and headed towards the four younger kids. "I want the dishes downstairs cleaned, and the beds reorganized. If I return and nothing is done correctly one of you kids will be spending the night outside." With those final words, Mrs. Goldren slammed the door shut. A minute later the little kids huddled up against the window to see her get into her old Mustang and leave the orphanage.

"Any brilliant plan now, Max?" Iggy asked. Iggy was the same age as Max, except much taller. Him and Max were the ones who basically took care of the four younger kids for three to four years now. (depending on the days the kids first entered the shithole) Iggy's strawberry blonde hair started glinting from the birght light outside and inside, just like his light blue eyes that were hoping for an escape plan.

"No." Max murmured. Gazzy let out a sad sigh, not even noticing that his hand was still clutching the bed's legs tightly. "But I know one thing."

"Do tell." Iggy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and falling back unto the crappy bed.

"We clean till we die."

When Mrs. Goldren got back from her daily shopping, Max had just finished scrubbing the last dirt spot off the wall. Her eyes became droopy an hour ago, but her messy blonde hair covered her chocolate colored eyes and dirty face. "Very nice." Goldren smirked. "Now go on, Mommy needs to make her dinner." Max rolled her eyes and headed up the creaky stairs into her shared room.

"Max, Max!" Gazzy cried.

"yeah?" She asked, not really in the mood for the childish play.

"Sophie got to take a shower! Why don't I get one?" Max, being the sixteen year old she was, became so jealous that moment that her eyes probably turned green. Sophie was about seven years old, but Max always thought she looked about eleven till now.

"How?"

"Max! Don't tell Mrs. Goldren, please! I was dirty and tired and I wanted a shower." Tiny tears filled in Sophie's eyes and fell unto Iggy's finger that just magically appeared.

"Family doesn't tell on family, Soph." Iggy smiled down to her. Sophie gave a tiny nod, but Max couldn't utter one word of comfort. Sophie, the little girl that came here not so long ago got a shower but not her? She, who had been her for six years wiping shit off everything?

"I hate this place! I want to get out! I need to get out!" Max had finally cracked. Gazzy, Sophie, Sam and Fred all took a step back from her but Iggy placed a hand on the small of her back.

"I know, Max. I know." Just then the doorbell rang. Everyone went quiet in that little room, and so did the rest of the rooms in the halls.

"Somebody's leaving today." Fred, ten years old, whispered. Max nodded at him then inched closer to their locked room door.

"Hello." A friendly voice spoke form downstairs.

"Why, hello there!" Mrs. Goldren voice sent shrills down Max's back, it was so different. "Follow me, Miss….?"

"Martinez."

"Very well." Max's room was always the first door in the hall so she backed away from the door quickly and ran to her bed. The kids and Iggy followed along. Max's breath stopped when the door creaked open slightly and four people came in.

The first one was Mrs. Goldren. After, came in a pretty, tall woman with a little curly haired girl holding on to her hand tightly. Behind them stood a black haired, tall, messy haired boy. He looked exactly like the mom, but nothing like the little girl tucked behind her mother's long jacket. "Maxine." Mrs. Goldren spoke. Max stood up, ignoring the fact that her name was mispronounced. "May you please introduce everybody to Mrs. Martinez here, sweetie?" Not going to hit her, not going to hit her, Max thought to herself loudly.

"This is Gazzy. Sam. Fred. Sophie and Iggy." Max took a look at the little girl hiding and smiled at her. She loved little kids, mostly because she spent half her life parenting them. But also because whatever they did they were always innocent. That's why Max was never adopted. People that came to adopt always want little kids to start off from the beginning. So if Max couldn't get adopted she was always hoping for Gazzy.

"And your name is Maxine, my dear?" Mrs. Martinez asked. Max shook her head but managed a small smile.

"Max. Just Max." Mrs. Martinez grabbed Max's dirty hand by surprise and held it firmly.

"I have decided." Damn. This woman was quick. Max hoped she would say Gazzy. She prayed Mrs. Martinez would pick Gazzy. He was the brightest little boy here, plus still young and innocent.

"We can talk about it downstairs if you would like." Mrs. Goldren said, but Mrs. Martinez shool her head, seeming so sure of herself it shocked all six kids in the room.

"Max."

Once those words were out Max stopped breathing. Her body filled with goosebumps and he hairs stood up. No sound was made in the room, no sobs, anger, or chokes. This was real. This was happening. Max was going to be adopted. Somebody had finally said her name.

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	2. Chapter 2

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYBODY!

Mrs. Martinez had wanted Max. Out of all the children in the orphanage she wanted just Max. Two feelings formed in the pit of Max's hungry stomach. Happiness and guilt, but of course she didn't let both show.

"Mom," The tall, black haired boy spoke. His voice was deep, like he hasn't been talking in a while, "There's so many kids you still haven't taken a look at." As hot as that kid was, Max hated him. Those words showed Max who he really was.

"I'm sure." Mrs. Martinez nodded at Max. Gazzy's small hand crept its way into Max's that moment. Hot tears sprang into his eyes.

"I'm staying." Max whispered. There was small gasps from the little children behind Max, but she didn't dare look at their faces.

"Like I thought she would-"

"Oh, I promise we'll make you feel at home!" The little blonde girl spoke eagerly, cutting off Mrs. Goldren. Yet Max shook her head.

"I bet you would, sweetie, but I have a family here to take care of, too." Mrs. Martinez took in Max's words, deeply.

"Well I can't adopt them all."

"I know." Max murmured.

"But if you want to talk to me outside of the room with your foster mom I will certainly try working something out." Did this woman really want me this bad? Max thought. Mrs. Golden scoffed, but got out of the room with Max and Mrs. Martinez behind her.

As soon as the dorr shut behind the three Mrs. Goldren gave a fake cough. "Adopting one is expensive enough Mrs."

"Its Miss, and I know, thank you." Max smiled inside. Anybody that had this kind of attitude towards that bitch was Max's idol.

"I'm thankful that you want me, but there are two guys in there that are more important to me then life itself, and I can't leave them." Max wanted to break down and cry. She wanted to leave, to step foot unto the grass and smell new furniture, have family dinners, and feel free. Yet, She couldn't. Never.

"If you don't mind, can you tell me who these two guys are?" Mrs. Martinez asked softly. Max nodded, then opened the door again. The little blonde haired girl was asking Sophie and Gazzy questions about the orphanage, making Max smile. While, the older boy was still back glued to the wall with his eyes on the ground.

"Gazzy is the little boy talking to your daughter, and Iggy is the tall blonde one lying on the bed with a little kid banging on his head." That reminded Max she had to talk to Fred about hitting people.

"I see. How much do you love them?" What kind of a question was that? Max thought, but Mrs. Martinez's eyes were full of pure interest that Max couldn't help but answer.

"More than anything. Even Cookies." Ah, Cookies. Max still remembered the first time she ate a chocolate chip cookie at the Mall with her real mom, but that was so long ago that the memory was so fuzzy now Max's heart feels numb.

"Cookies!" Mrs. Martinez laughed. Max nodded, proudly. "Excuse me, sweetie." Max nodded again. Too much nodding going on! Two seconds later, Mrs. Goldren and Mrs. Martinez left the room.

Max looked around the dump, then headed towards Iggy. "You're an idiot." He said to her when she reached him. Max rolled her eyes and made the mistake of looking up. The hot D-bag was looking at her and Max couldn't help but give a sudden blush and turn her attention back to Iggy.

"Say thank you that I'm not leaving you."

"But Max, I'm not thankful…" That earned Iggy a hard slap on the back of the head. "Why would you turn this down!" Iggy nearly yelled. Max turned to look at Gazzy's young face. He was in a deep conversation now that he didn't notice Max staring at him, intently.

"Because I love Gazzy. He's like my own baby." Iggy sat up and smiled up at Max.

"Am I your baby, too?"

"Iggy! I can never get into a deep conversation with you, without you screwing it up!" Max noticed her voice was rising and she wasn't siting on the bed anymore. She sat back down quickly and growled at Iggy.

"That's hot."

"You're a hog."

"Love you, too baby." After Iggy said that the door opened again. This time it was only Mrs. Goldren. She seemed pissed off with her face so pale and eyes so wide.

"Fang, Angel, Your mom is downstairs. Max, Gazzy and Iggy…" Mrs. Goldren nearly choked on her next words. "Pack what you have, you're out of here."

SORRY ITS SO SHORT. I'LL MAKE THE NEXT ONE LONGER, I PROMISE


	3. Chapter 3

I PROMISED TO MAKE THIS ONE LONG! HOPE ITS LONG ENOUGH!

Max, Iggy, And Gazzy were all stuffed in the back seat awkwardly with Angel. Max Couldn't suppress her happiness, or even love for Mrs. Martinez. She was such an easy person to get along with and her smile made Max feel warm. Almost as if that was the mother she was waiting for many years now.

"No, Gazzy! Okay, Hannah Montana is blonde, but she is only Hannah Montana when she wears the wig! Do you get it?" Angel asked. It was about her fifth timing explaining to Gazzy who she was and Max just about lost all sanity.

"Angel, shut up!" The hot D-bag said while giving out a small sigh. Max had a strong feeling he didn't like the fact that his mom was adopting three children at once.

When the car finally got to a stop Mrs. Martinez looked back at the four squashed children. "You're home." She smiled. Max let out a shaky breath as Mrs. Martines and D-bag got out of the car.

"Iggy, Gazzy, come with me! I want to show you your rooms!" Mrs. Martinez smiled at them.

"Sorry Max, guess you're sleeping outside." Iggy laughed. I held back a punch.

"Max, I want to show you your room." Angel's hand made it into Max's sweaty one. Max really hoped the girl didn't sense how nervous she was. Max didn't notice how big the house was. She couldn't see the D-bag anymore so she guessed he already entered the glass double doors into the brick manor. There was a big fountain in front of the house and Mrs. Marinez's car was parked around it. It was more than Max could hope for.

"Come on!" Angel smiled. Unlike the d-bag, Angel introduced herself happily to everyone. Max knew Angel was probably happy for having more siblings because all the poor girl had was that tall, hot… she really had to stop thinking he was hot! She didn't even know him.

Max followed Angel inside and nearly choked. This place is huge! She thought. There were two stairwells leading to the same place. Max saw Gazzy and Iggy follow Mrs. Martinez till the made a corner on the first floor, while Angel pulled Max up the stairs. "Now, close your eyes." Max did as said and held firmly unto Angel's hand. "Open!" That's when Max nearly cried. Nearly!

"Oh." Was all she could get out. The wall color was a dark blue, the queen size bed was pressed to the wall in the middle with two mini wooden drawers on both sides of it. There was a huge mirror on the lieft side where Max guessed was the closet, and a big wooden table on the right side with a laptop, some notebooks, and a silver pen on top of it.

"You hate it…" Angel whispered. Max held on tighter to Angel's hand and shook her head.

"The rules are simple…" The d-bag spoke from behind Max. Angel let go of Max's hands and placed her tiny hands on her hips, smiling a bit.

"It's a room. What rules can there be?" Max asked, a bit to cold but she didn't care.

"No loud music, lights on at night, or stepping foot in my room. That's all I ask." The d-bag's room was right across from Max's making her almost hate her room now.

"I don't even know your name." Max replied.

"Angel! Iggy wants to teach you how to cook!" Mrs. Martinez yelled from downstairs. Angel squealed and was out of sight in the next second.

"You don't really need to know." Fang answered Max, returning to their conversation.

"You know mine, isn't it fair for me to know yours?"

"fair? I'm sure you out of all people know not to believe in fair."

"You're an ass." Max stepped in to her own room without waiting for D-bag to reply. She closed it gently so Mrs. Martinez wont get mad at her and leaned up against the door. She hated him! Hated!

Max took the chance she had a lone to look around her room. There was a small corner that she didn't pay attention to when she was standing by the doorframe. It was a shower. Her own shower… On the marble sink was a blue towel matching the room. Hung on the golden hanger were a pair of jeans and a worn out, nice smiling t-shirt. Right by the t-shirt was a red hoodie in case Max got cold. She had to admit it, her life could not get any better.

Max was wrong. Her life got a whole lot better after she got dressed with her new clothes and was clean with nice smiling soap on her body. Fuck! I LOVE IT HER! She yelled into her head. Mas was glad to know the jeans fit on her and the hoodie wasn't too big, but besides that, she loved the feeling of brushing her long tangled hair and making it smooth again. "Max!" There was banging on her room door. Being Max, she ran towards it and unlocked it immediately.

"What's wrong, Gazzy!" But Gazzy was laughing. In fact, laughing so hard tears were running down his cheeks.

"Iggy!" Laugh, "Nearly!" laugh, "ate the…" breath, "plants!" Burst out laughing again. Oh, Gazzy…"

"Hey, Gaz? Could you, um, laugh about it somewhere else. I'm getting tired." She felt bad about making Gazzy leave, but honestly, could he be any louder? She still gave a laugh when he nearly fell laughing again. As soon as Gazzy ran back downstairs Max made her way to D-bag's door. She gave a loud knock.

"Ang, not now." He replied.

"It's not Angel." Then there was silence. "can you please open the door?" Max placed her ear on the door and made out paces from inside. She was guessing D-bag was coming.

"What?" He rubbed sleep from his eyes and opened the door just enough for his head to pop out.

"whats your name?"

"God, Max. Why do you care?"

"because we're…well…you know!" Family! Why was it so hard for Max to say family!

"Okay…?"

"Tell me your name or I'll keep thinking its Douchbag." That clicked something in D-bag. He opened the door all the way and leaned against the door frame. Holy mother of….! This kid had some serious abs… His toned, olive chest was wet from the shower he took not so long ago and his sweat pants were sagging low enough for the band of the boxers to show. Max noticed she was staring and immeditly looked back to his face. He looked at her like he was bored.

"Douchbag, huh? Mature aren't you?" Max nodded still in a daze from his body. Did she really have to count him as a brother? Ah damnit! Max, shut up!

"Never mind!" Max threw her hands in the air and turned around, ready to head downstairs.

"It's Fang." He called after her. She didn't turn back around, but smiled to herself and headed down the stairs.

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	4. Chapter 4

REVIEW PLEASE! GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM!

"Gazzy!" Max burst into laughter. Gazzy was making the weirdest impersonations and the funniest one so far was the Scooby doo.

"Oh! Do Max!" Max gave Iggy a death glare but he shrugged it off and looked back at Gazzy. They were all seated on the couch, except for Fang. Honestly, Max didn't really care what Fang was doing upstairs, all she cared about right now was that Gazzy and Iggy were happy, she had her own room, and she had finally taken a nice, long shower.

"In bed guys! Get in bed or I'll smack your faces so hard…" Gazzy gave a laugh when he was done. Max would of slapped him but she couldn't help but laugh herself. Mrs. Martinez gave such a big laugh that they all stared at her till they started laughing again.

"I'm gunna go check on the chicken. Iggy, you want to come with me?" Iggy nodded and followed Mrs. Martinez into the kitchen. Angel jumped into Max's lap and Gazzy cuddled by her side. Max gave a smile, it was nearly seven pm, and Gazzy must have been exhausted.

"Angel?" Max said, while playing with the little girl's smooth curls.

"Hm?"

"Is your brother always this angry?" Angel gave a laugh and looked up to Max's face.

"No, he just got out of a serious relationship. I'm sure he's just overreacting." When Angel was done talking she buried her face into Max's shoulder again. Serious relationship? Max wondered who the desperate girl was.

"Dinner!" Iggy yelled from the kitchen. Mrs. Martinez headed up the stairs to call Fang while the four children made their way into the kitchen.

"Does it matter where we sit?" Gazzy asked. Angel shook her head and plummeted on one of the chairs with Max sitting beside her. Gazzy sat by Angel and Iggy was too busy with the hot chicken.

"Okay, Fang. Whatever." Mrs. Martinez rolled her eyes. She seemed annoyed, but Fang looked impassive and took a seat by Gazzy.

"Hey Fang!" Gazzy smiled. Fang gave Max's little baby a high five and gave a tiny smirk back.

"You liking it here?" Fang asked. Max wasn't sure who till gazzy replied.

"No! I love it here!" Angel Gave a laugh and started playing with her little fork. When Iggy and Mrs. Martinez finally took their seat, Mrs. Martinez spoke,

"I want everybody to introduce themselves." She gave Fang a glare but he ignored it and took himself some salad. "I'll start. I'm Marie Martinez, 37years old, I have four children and am so happy I adopted three more." Four children… Fang, Angel. Who else? Max kept her curiosity to herself.

"Um, Iggy. 16years old, and I really don't know what else to say." He took a bite out of his chicken and dug into his rice a second later.

"Angel! I'm 6years old! And I want a dog!" What an energetic child, Max smiled.

"Gazzy…. 10years old. I like to eat! Really anything!" It didn't show though. Gazzy was almost too skinny for his age.

"Max. I uh, like cookies and I'm 16years old." Max noticed Fang looking at her from across the table but she didn't meet eye contact.

"Fang. 17." And that was all Max really expected of him to say. She took her chance to look at him, yet again it was bad timing. His eyes placed themselves on hers and she could see they had the prettiest shape of green. Before she could get lost in them she dug her fork in her salad and ate.

"KEROKE!" Iggy yelled. They were all done with dinner thirty minutes ago and Mrs. Martinez was doing the dishes, insisting the kids go and get to know one another a bit more.

"I don't sing." Max said quickly.

"I do!" Angel screeched. Fang was stretched out on the leather couch, but Max didn't notice until she accidently sat on his knees.

"Max!" Fang whisper yelled. Max got up quickly and I was about to apologize but decided not to.

"Don't take up the whole couch then." But Fabg was about 6'2, Tall enough to take over the couch without even knowing it.

"Shut up." He stretched himself out again and grinned at max's disgusted face expression.

"Mary had a little lamb! Little lamb, little lamb! Mary had a little lamb and nah nah nah nah nah !" Angel sung. Max officially fell inlove with that little girl. When she put the mic down she handed it over to Max but max backed away.

"I'm dead serious, Angel. I can't sing." Iggy gave a huge scoff and blocked his ears.

"She can't…" Gazzy added. Max gave them all sarcastic thank you stares which they took happily.

"C'mon, Maxie." Fang added from the back. Max swallowed down a growl and bit her lips.

"I miss you, I miss your…"

"Stop!" Iggy yelled! Max put the mic down quickly and hid her face in her hands.

"I told you!" She cried.

FANG POV

So Max couldn't sing. He smiled to himself. A pretty girl can't have everything. Her face turned so red that Fang got up and headed towards her. "It wasn't that bad."

"Just horrible." Gazzy put in. Max smiled and Fang then knew she wouldn't care.

"Just horrible. It could be worse." He said. She glanced into his eyes again and told him to shut up.

After Angel fell asleep in Fang's arms, Iggy headed up stairs, Fang's mom headed to her bed after kissing everybody goodnight, Max carried Gazzy upstairs and Fang carried Angel. When Angel was in her room tucked in, Fang stepped out quietly and headed to his own room. He was about to walk in when he saw Max playing with a rubber band on her bed. C'mon Fang. One more step and you're in your room. Done for the day. Yet he found himself knocking quietly on Max's open door.

"What?" She said. Fang put his hand over his chest with mock hurt.

"Can't I tell my sister goodnight?"

"Well, why would you care."

"You're right, I don't." He went inside her room and sat on the bed beside her. "I was just wanting to ask you if I could put you on American idol." Fang laughed. Max slapped his back hard, but he didn't seem to notice.

"You're so funny… Go work out…"

"What?" Max couldn't come up with a comeback so the best she could come up with was go work out? Fang laughed inside.

"yeah, you're um, too fat! I saw you!"

"You saw me?" Oh yeah, she did. He remembered. Max got up off the bed and ran to Fang's room. Fang Immediately chased after her.

"What are you doing!" But Max just kept on looking around the room. Fang was getting pissed, so he grabbed on to her waist and lifted her up till she was outside his room beside the door frame. "Why's you come in here?

"You came in mine!" she retorded. Fang gave a true kind of nod, right when he was about to shut the door, Max caught it. "Who was the girl you loved?" she asked. Fang's heart ran a thousand miles, but instead of getting mad he felt weak. He let go of the door and sat down on his bed. Max sat down beside him. His Mom kept trying to get it out of him, to find somebody new, trust again, but he couldn't do it.

"How do you know about that?" He asked.

"Angel." Nuff said. "Listen, you need to open up."

"Don't give me that bullshit." Fang looked down. He hated that crap, hated that opening up shit.

"It's not bullshit, it helps. If you wanna stay down go ahead and soke it in, I'm just trying to help." Fang knew Max was right, but he had just met her and a couple of hours ago he wanted nothing to do with her.

"Okay." He looked at Max's face and she brightened.

"Okay!"

"Lissa. We dated since we were 15 and I decided to take the relationship to a whole new level. Ask her to travel the world with me when we were 18. She hated the idea, she thought that if she did it she would just be holding on to something she hates. I also wanted to go to base 3. Base 3! That's nothing. She freaked out."

"now that sounds like bullshit to me." Max yawned. Fang nodded and smiled.

"I decided to just let it go, tell her its fine. Them My mom told me she's getting a divorce. Turns out my dad has been having an affair for three months and never bothered to share it till the last minute. I wasn't sure what I hated most. The fact that my dad was a laying bastard or that we had to move."

"I bet you know what you hate most now." Max whispered. Fang shook his head and continued.

"two weeks before moving, I told Lissa. She became pissed and that's how that ended." Wow. First time ever that Fang wa actually taking a heavy breath in the end of a sentence.

"What it feel like?"

"What?" He asked. Max placed her hand on his shoulder and turned her body to face him.

"When you kissed her?" Right then Fang knew that Max had never been kissed in her life.

"I don't know. She never had a huge power over me, I just needed her campony a lot."

"Oh."

"Max?" Fang asked and raised her chin with his finger.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna know how it feels like to be kissed?"

MAX POV

There she was thinking that Fang was just a normal guy. Max still hated him, don't get her wrong, but she did want to know how it feels. She was 16 Goddamnit! She gave a tiny nod. Fang then crushed his lips to hers. Surprisingly it felt good. Fang's lips weren't gross, or chapped, but instead smooth and… good? Max didn't know, she just knew that she liked it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself tighter to him while he grabbed on to her back with one hand and the other on her neck. Max was lost. Her thoughts were running so fast that she became dizzy. Out of nowhere she felt Fang's tongue licking her bottom lip, begging her to open them, she declined.

Max unwrapped her hands quickly and let out a breath till they were steady. "Okay, night." Fang yawned, which triggered something in Max, something painful. She felt hurt. That was it? All he said… Fang was back to D-bag weather he liked it or not, she didn't care. She ran out of the room and into hers, slamming the door on accident.

IM GOING TO TRY TO KEEP MAKING THE CHAPTERS LONGER!

REVIEWW!:)


	5. Chapter 5

It's been a week since my last incidence with Fang. I decided not to do much about it anymore, it was time to treat him as a brother and that exactly how I wanted it. Even though we didn't really talk, just the normal Hey, Hey, okay Yeah I'll just be RIGHT next door if you need me, I still felt closer to him. Angel showed me around the block one afternoon and we passed by this old house right by our huge pretty one. Angel said those were the Gellers. In the house lives a single dad with two adoptive girls. There was something about this neighborhood, everybody adopted. It creeped me out to even look at it and I swore I would never bother them, until tonight….

Here's the story of how I met the Gellers, and trust me, it's not a very pleasant one.

"Max! Since mom's out can you play house with me?" Angel asked. She was in the living room yelling her little heart out while I was in the kitchen with Iggy. He was teaching me how to cook and because of the 6 year old I nearly burnt myself again.

"Angel, c'mon. How many times do I have to say no?"

"Fang said yes!" her voice was sounding closer to me and before I knew it she was right there with Fang holding on to her little hand. He was holding his phone in his other hand, examining something. I didn't even bother to ask. Instead, I dropped my mitten on the counter and cleared my throat.

"Really?" I asked him. He gave me a tiny grin.

"6year olds have to get what they want. Its like… a requirement." I laughed at what he said with him while Angel scowled at us. Iggy even gave a tiny grin, but he was too focused with his eggs for our breakfast.

"Hey guys, I'm playing, too!" I heard Gazzy jump down a couple stairs and glide over to us.

"Why would you wanna go?" This obviously caught Iggy's attention.

"I have a new Bom-toy…" Nice save Gaz, real smooth.

"You better not use that 'toy!'" I warned him. Fang just stared at Gazzy trying to get a glimpse of the bomb behind Gazzy's back.

"No worries…"

We all headed out and shocker shocker, Iggy decided to join us as well. Appearntly Gazzy mentioning the word bomb sparked something in him. Angel ran onto the grass and spread herself out. "Now! On of you guys have to carry me!" She said.

"You." I told Fang silently. He put is cell in his back jean pocket and rolled his eyes.

"Oh mother dear, I believe it is in fact your turn." He gave a little bow and pointed over to Angel. I watched Gazzy and Iggy run off closer to the Geller's house and my heart dropped.

"We're not changing dippers, _dear._" I sneered while shutting the front door and walking over to Angel with him.

"Yeah we are. Only huggies, remember she hates pampers." Fang warned me. I tried hard not to laugh as I hit him softly on the shoulder.

"Whoever you marry must be so proud that you know the difference."

"Guys!" Angel rolled over to yell at us. We ran over to her and shared the job. I grabbed her feet and Fang grabbed her legs and we both started swinging her as she giggled frantically. A minute later we both collapsed with her and she started laughing. "Best parents ever!" Angel laughed again.

"Is that even legal?" Fang mumbled to me.

"No. Not at all."

"That's what I- Gazzy, Iggy!" Fang yelled over to them. I turned my attention to them and realized what Fang looked so concerned about. Gazzy had a little beeping bomb in his hand, and Iggy held a slingshot. They were pointed right to the Geller's house.

"I'm murdering them both!" I said between gritted teeth. Angel was the first to sprint over to them followed by me and Fang.

"Stop Iggy!" Angel grabbed the slingshot from Iggy but Iggy pulled back a bit. Gazzy tried holding back the slingshot from Angel but the bomb fell onto the slingshot and Iggy accidently let go. We watched the bomb fly and land right in the top window of the house.

"Why would you do that!" I slapped Iggy's face twice and felt a bit better once it was red.

"It's just a stink bomb, chill! Besides, we just wanted to get them out of the house. If it was up to me I would blame Gazzy!" It's always like Iggy to protect himself when he obviously was a big part of it.

"Well it's not up to you is it?" Fang said. Then the stink bomb went off and a shriek erupted from the house. Angel covered her nose and ran to out front door with Gazzy. Fang stood by me and Iggy as we watched green mist take over the house. Then we smelt it too and got off the Geller's front yard quickly.

A second later, a pretty dark skinned girl ran out with a 17 magazine in her hand. Then behind her came running a tan colored girl. She was wearing nothing but a thick white towel around her slim figure. I gave Iggy an extra slap on the back of the head. "See what you do!" I hissed. His face turned red but his eyes were all over the two girls.

"Damn Iggy, nice." Fang chuckled. Sexist pigs.

"Well, go apologize." I pushed Iggy away from us and watched him go talk to the two innocent frightened girls looking at the green mist dissolve slowly.

"How much do you bet he'll date the towel girl?" Fang said into my ear. I gave a tiny shiver but ignored it fast.

"I bet you fifteen that he'll end up with the 17magaizne girl."

"Done." Fang and I shook on it, then Iggy came back.

"I'm gunna have some explaining to do to the dad and Mrs. Martinez…" Iggy told us. I walked past him and over to the two girls.

"Hey." I smiled. They both looked at me, then looked away back at their house. "You wanna finish taking a shower at me house? I can lend you clothes." I offered. Towel girl nodded.

"Thank you, but I guess you owe me for stinking my house." She said. There was a bit of humor in her voice but I could tell she was nervous to be around me.

"My magazine stinks now!" 17 magazine said. I gave a sorry look,

"I'm Max. You probably already met Iggy, and Fang is the one beside the person who stunk your house. The other two are probably inside."

"I'm Ella" Said Towel girl. She had really dark hair, that covered a bit of her face but there was no doubt she wasn't pretty. Then 17 took my hand in hers.

"I'm Nudge." She smiled.

Once Ella was done in the shower and Nudge wasted a whole bottle of perfume on her magazine we were all seated downstairs. Fang took the long couch as always, Angel cradled against me on the floor, Iggy took the chair and Gazzy leaned against the T.V. Nudge and Ella found themselves comfortable on the other long couch across Fang. Gazzy did the honor of telling Ella and Nudge what happened as Iggy just stared at Ella. I gave Fang a look that meant 'still Nudge!' but he ignored it was a half a grin.

"Why don't you two come out of your house?" Angel asked. Always let the 6year old be the curious one. Psst! They don't get in trouble for asking the questions you don't normally ask.

"Our dad is very over protective. People at school don't even know we exsist!" Ella complained. She started playing with her fingers again. Nudge on the other hand was slouched on the couch with one leg up on the table. More outgoing, I decided.

"It's cool to finally meet our neighbors. Even though you guys have some explaining to do about the stink bomb." Gazzy gave a little cough and Iggy stirred in his chair.

"You two are welcome anytime. Mrs. Martinez well be glad to have you here." I said. Nudge looked around me and saw the pool from the back window.

"Awesome!" She screeched. Ella agreed by laughing back.

"Oh! How about you two come over for BBQ tonight?" Iggy said.

"That sounds good, but our dad…" Ella replied. Nudge huffed.

"We'll get our mom to talk to him. Trust me, he'll want free dinner after what happened to his home." Gazzy said.

"Yeah yeah. Just make sure to bring a swimsuite." I wanted to slap Iggy again for being sucha hog, "bikini preferred." He murmured the last part.

When Ella and Nudge headed back home, Angel and Gazzy put on a movie and Iggy went up to his business. (Looking at Ella through his window) I headed over to Fang's room and made myself comfortable on his bed.

"You know not even two hours passed and we were married, divorced, met new people, and invited them for BBQ." I said. Fang looked at me and smiled. He quit typing and shut his laptop then sat down on his bed with me.

"I have to admit we've had one crazy adventure since you've got here." Fang told me and I bit back a blush. I really had to stop that, it wasn't even normal anymore.

"Yeah, I know."

"A simple thank you would have worked."

"I don't role that way." I replied simply and sat up to face Fang.

"No?" he arched one eyebrow and I knew he was up to something.

"No…?" When I least expected it he tackled me down and started tickling me. I wasn't sure when I stopped laughing.


	6. Chapter 6

After heading back to my room I started looking for something nice to wear tonight. My first impression on this family was good, but now I have to make another impression on another family. Who knew life could be this good when you're pretty much free?

I was just shutting drawers and opening my closet when Iggy stood in my door frame. I saw him from the corner of my eye and decided to just keep looking for clothes. Boy, Dr. Martinez sure bought me a whole lot. "What, Iggy?" I asked, when I noticed he wasn't even planning on leaving. I turned to look at him and shut my closet door.

"I was kind of hoping you would help me…?" He looked so young with his hair a blonde mess and his big eyes. Being adopted definitely was the best thing that happened to us.

"Help?" I crossed my arms across my chest, beckoning him to go on. He shifted his weight to the other side,

"Well, you see I don't normally ask your help on what to wear. Considering the fact that you have no sense of style what-so-ever…"

"Iggy!" I cut him off. His face turned into an 'O' as he looked down at my clothes. Okay fine. Sure I had plenty of cuter clothe sin my closet then a pair f old jeans and an oversized T-shirt, but who was I planning to look sexy for?

"_Anyway _I have no idea what to wear for Ella tonight." A small blush crept up his pale skin and planted itself on his cheeks. Don't get me wrong, I was all for helping out Iggy with his love life, just not right now when I needed to work out _my _life.

"Ask Fang, or Gazzy! I don't know, Ig. They're guys, you're a guy, have some male bonding time." I headed toward him, pushed him back gently, and shut my door.

My privacy was short lived for another knock made me have to stop messing up my closet and get to my door. I opened it to a wide eyed Angel in a cute yellow sundress. She gave a little twirl and smiled up at me.

"Is this good?" She asked, her voice so full of energy. "I wanna look amazing for Ella and Nudge tonight! I know they never had a BBQ before but I'm not sure why. But…"

"You look adorable, sweetie." I smiled. She gave me an unexpected hug making me laugh. Across my room Fang was peering over at me. I gave a silent, 'what?' but he just gave a tiny one sided grin, got up, and closed his door.

"Do you need help picking out clothes! Mom just got home and I told her _ALL _about the BBQ! She thought it was great. Gazzy said he's gunna light the grill." She gave a little giggle and grabbed onto my hand.

"Gazzy's going to light the grill….?" My voice faded. Angel seemed to notice because she pulled me down, of course with my help, and whispered in my ear,

"Don't worry. Iggy will be watching him." She winked. Iggy? Watching Gazzy light something on fire?

"Um, Angel? I need to go talk to mom." Angel looked confused but her attention quickly drifted to the mess I made in my room. I ran down the stairs till I found Dr. M seated in her arm chair with the food book in her hands. I quickly made it to her and sat down on the chair's arm. She peered up from her book and gave me a smile.

"You invited the neighbors. That was very nice of you."

"Yeah, sorry for It being so sudden, I just thought I owed them for Gazzy stinking up their house and all." Dr. M laughed, put her book down and turned her body so it was facing me.

"Angel told me that incident, too." Her frail hand moved the hair in my face behind my ear. "Do me a favor?" I nodded, "Could you set the table outside? I have to go ask the girl's dad and find you a nice bathing suit to wear."

"Dr… mom, you don't need to, really. I saw three hanged in my closet." She shook her head and made a little clicking sound.

"Those are my old ones. You need a nice, new pair." Fang ran down the stair a moment later. I looked up at him but he seemed too caught up in his phone. I noticed he was about to say something but when he saw his mom look up at him and swallowed whatever was about to come out and waved.

When Dr. M left the house to do what she said she was going to do, Fang jumped on the couch, took the remote control and turned on the T.V. "What's the rush?" I asked.

"The sticking bomb accident is on the news." He said, "Didn't want mom to freak out." I couldn't believe it. Somehow somebody actually got the footage of the little bomb landing in the house through the open window and exploding. I fell into laughter.

"Oh Mother…" I cut myself off when I saw Gazzy and Angel make their way to us. When they saw the news they too started laughing.

Dr. M came back at least an hour later with the most gorgeous bikini I had ever seen. The top was black with a neon yellow Nike sign and the bottom was completely yellow with a black strip on top that spelled out Nike. I gave her the biggest hug I could and ran up the stairs to change into it. I never thought I had a good body before, but when I looked at myself in the mirror with the new Bikini on I blushed and let my hair fall down my shoulders from the tight ponytail. A knock on the door snapped me out of my trance.

"What now?" I asked, really hoping it wasn't Dr. M.

"Damn. Wanted to know if you wanted beef or chicken." Fang said from the other side of the door. I quickly opened the door, and there stood Fang, all shirtless with abs like a sonofabitch staring down at me.

"Both." My voiced cracked. I realized I was still looking at his body and raised my eyes to his face. To my surprise he wasn't looking at my eyes, but instead raking his own eyes over my body. I cleared my throat and took a step back, just now noticing how close we were.

"Alright." He cleared his throat and looked at me, "You, um, might wanna tell that to Iggy." I didn't want to tell anything to Iggy that second. I wanted to lace my fingers through his hair and push him so close to me that he could hardly breathe. I wanted him to hold me when I crash my lips down to his and tell me that I'm what he's been looking for. Most of all, I wanted to feel his abs against my skin and his mouth on my neck. I bit back a moan.

"Could you tell him? I need to… put on something." He arched one perfect eyebrow.

"put on something? You sure?" freaking teaser. I shut the door in his face and leaned back against it. He's my brother, right? By law or something I can't really feel an attraction to him, can I?

Soon enough, after the dinner table outside was set, the pool was clean, and the grill was ready to be lit, a knock came from the front door and Dr. M and Angel raced to get it. Nudge and Ella stood behind it awkwardly with a weird looking man behind them. He had fairly big glasses and I knew that's why Gazzy and Iggy were laughing. Fang put a knuckle in his mouth to keep from laughing with them.

"Welcome to our home, please come in." Dr. M smiled brightly and moved aside to let the family of three step foot into our home.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing I saw when my new mom, or as Angel says; mommy, opened the door to the family next door was their dad. The man looked tired and beaten down making him look about sixty years old. Of course I knew better than that, even though his light brown hair did have many white hairs sticking out awkwardly on ends. I was sure the man was younger, but for right now with the way his body was slouching, his eyes were puffy, and the grim look on his face was piercing through my skin I didn't want anything to do with him or know _about_ him.

Nudge, on the other hand gave a blinding smile and a little giggle when Iggy appeared out of nowhere beside Miss Martinez. Ella gave a shy smile with a tiny wave but stepped inside after her father and Nudge. "Nice home." His rusty voice echoed through the quite halls. Even Angel squirmed beside Fang's stiff posture.

"Thank you Mr…um.." Miss Martinez looked uncomfortably at him for support on his name. He finally seemed to notice she was talking to him and raised his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Batchelder." He replied, sticking out his hand for her to shake. She took it warmly and smiled, then turned her attention on the girls.

"Please, make yourself at home. I'm sure Angel and Gazzy would love to show you around."

"Hey, I'm new to this house and you want me to show them around?" Gazzy asked. This made Nudge and Ella smile, but Mr. Batchelder gave no emotion.

"Yeah, you never know with Gazzy. He might lead them straight into another stink bomb and—"

"And I will make sure that doesn't happen!" I finished, giving Iggy the death glare but at the same time thanking whoever was out there that he didn't say what he wanted to say even when I cut him off. Mr. Batchelder noticed I was alive and nodded, again not uttering a word. When I realized his eyes weren't finding something else to look at but me I walked over to close the door, hiding behind my mom. Yeah I know, fearless Max and all that bullshit. Apparently that girl is still at the orphanage, locked up thinking about her brothers and sisters who didn't get to go home.

"Thank you, Max. But I'm going to need you to clean the pool with Fang."

"What about me?" Iggy asked.

"There's a grill in the pool house. If you don't mind, may you please take it out and clean it off while I bring the meat?" Miss M questioned back. Iggy, as much as he didn't want to clean anything off, having have to clean off a whole building every day, didn't argue and nodded slowly before heading over to the back door.

"Alright ladies, follow me." Gazzy said, sliding his little arm around Ella's waist, and the other arm around Nudge. Angel crossed her arms across her chest and huffed, following the three up the stairs for the tour. I looked back to see Fang grinning slightly, before catching my eyes and going straight to a scowl. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Miss M and Mr. Batchelder.

"So why is this the first time we're meeting your girls?" Dr. M asked politely. I placed my hands on my hips, which weren't bare anymore thank you very much. I had on a leather jacket and jean shorts to cover my half naked self.

"They aren't social." He said quickly. Almost too quickly. Fang cleared his throat making all eyes fall on him. He must hate that, considering that every girl has his eyes on him every day wherever he went. Sometimes girls just find him and come up to him acting like old friends or former girlfriends.

"Max. Pool. Now?" I gave out a groan and followed him out the back door nearly knocking into Iggy walking past us.

"Watch where you're going." I snapped. Iggy dropped the grill lazily on the platform where the nice table and four chairs were and looked over at me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you wanna carry a five hundred pound grill halfway around the world?"

"You're sucha drama queen, did you know that?" I said hotly. Iggy laughed before turning around and heading back to the pool house to grab something else. I swore I heard him say towel, but I didn't really give it much thought.

"So how do you clean a pool?" I asked Fang. When he didn't reply I noticed he was staring at his phone, replying back to a text from only God knows who. "Can you drop the damn phone and answer me?"

"Are you PMS-ing?" He asked, walking around the pool and grabbing two large nets from beside the fence.

"Excuse me?" I nearly shrieked.

"You know. That one syndrome…?" He threw me one of the nets from across the pool. It landed beside my feet but I was to pissed at him to look at it.

"I know what it is, idiot!"

"Well, I was hoping you might. Pick up the net and grab every single leaf you see in the pool." I let out a breath and decided to forget about what he said. Instead, my attention was on what was happening inside the house. Was my mom and Batchelder hitting it off all alone in the kitchen? I shuddered at the thought. The man said that his daughters weren't social and I didn't have any second thought unto why they aren't. Except with Nudge I found that hard to believe. She seemed like the girl who would want to go shopping with friends all day.

"Finally found a towel." Iggy sighed when he ran past me and reached the grill. "Fang!" Iggy said. Fang's eyes left the water and reached Iggy in no time. He arched a perfect eyebrow as if to say, 'What?' "Max PMS-es _all _the time." That was it. With a tiny laugh from Fang and a blinding grin from Iggy, I dropped the net I had just picked up a second ago and reached him in two long strides.

"To think I took care of you."

"I can't think of you as taking care of me. You're much to pretty to be my _mama._" With that I grabbed onto his new Polo shirt and twirled him around to face the pool.

"Uh…" Fang mumbled. I pushed Iggy till he was standing right beside the pool, then kicked him into it. "Aw, c'mon. More dirt to clean up." Fang grunted. He took out the net and bent down onto the yard's green grass looking at Iggy struggle. I came to sit beside him while Iggy started cursing me and pointing the middle finger. I stuck my tongue out then felt Fang's eyes on me. I turned to face him to see him staring and I couldn't help but stare back. It wasn't the fact that he was abnormally hot in any way possible. Okay, maybe it was.

"Max!" Iggy yelled while dog paddling to the nearest wall. Once he got there Gazzy ran through the back door and cannon balled into the deep end. Unfortunately for Iggy he chose to find the wrong wall. This made me laugh a little harder until Mr. Batchelder came out gripping onto Ella's limp arm. She looked stricken with fear as he murmured something into her ear. Nudge looked at her sister for comfort, but squealed away when Mr. Batchelder gave her a murderous glance. I jumped up in alarm but Fang beat me to it by heading their way.

"Fang, stop." I whispered, only grazing his arm before he shot away quickly.

"Something is _not _right with that man." He whispered back. His mouth was so close to my ear making me nearly forget about Ella and Nudge. Once he pulled away I longed for his sweet scent and warm breath. I backed away from him and looked over again and everything seemed to be back to normal. Angel was now out talking to Nudge and looking at her nails while Nudge gave her tips. Ella was heading away from Batchelder and felt me staring. I looked away quickly, my eyes landing on Fang's dark ones.

"Look, we'll figure it out with them later. For now let's just make Dr. M-mom happy, okay?" He was about to say something back, probably a cuss word or smartass reply but his phone vibrated and he didn't even miss a beat checking it. I noticed his eyebrows lift up, his mouth turning into a smile making his gorgeous eyes actually shine. He texted back and put his phone in his pocket with a sigh of relief.

"Look at Mr. gloomy light up." Iggy said, using the towels for the BBQ to dry off. Fang rolled his eyes and moved away from us, back into the house nearly crashing into Dr. M.

"What was that about?" I murmured. Iggy shrugged, patted my back and headed over to the grill. He waved to Batchelder while taking the unready steak from Dr. M with a signature Iggy smile. I couldn't help but smile myself before heading over to Ella, who wa snow dipping her legs in the water. "Hey." I said softly. She snapped out of her daze and looked up at me. I bent down so my knees were touching the now wet concrete.

"Hello. You have a nice pool." She said sweetly.

"Yeah, we do." I agreed. She smiled brightly and inched forward more to get her pale legs in. There was no talking between us for some time until Dr. M gave out a loud laugh. We all snapped our heads their direction, but they were completely clueless to us. Dr. M placed her small hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He rolled his eyes with a goofy grin,

"I eat like a hog!" He laughed. She tilted her back with laughter as I turned around again to look at Ella.

"Don't let her like him." She whispered. Almost as if she didn't want me to hear it but did.

"Excuse me?"

"Do something." She urged, "He's not-"

"Ella right!" Gazzy yelled over to us. Ella nodded before Gazzy went underwater and appeared right beside us.

"Hey Gazzy." She smiled.

"You should come in!" He said, splashing water on us. Ella screamed making me laugh, but she cut herself off quickly and looked back to her father. He didn't seem to notice, instead he was full on flirting with Dr. M. I looked at her guessingly but she shook her head and leaned closer to me,

"Get them away from one another. Please." She pleaded softly then jumped into the pool. I got up deciding to leave Iggy to his chief work and talk to Nudge instead.

"-that why I want pink and purple nails." Angel finished before seeing me.

"Angel, can I talk to Nudge for a second?" I asked. Nudge looked up with surprise.

"Oh, is this about Iggy?" She laughed. I pulled her up teasingly and put a finger to her mouth. Too late, Nudge already heard and her face turned beet red. Angel gave a little ohhh before running off.

"Hey." She grinned, sliding the chair in closer to mine. "I was just telling Angel how much I wanna go shopping!" She said excitedly. What could be so exciting about a huge building with clothes, I will never know.

"I'm sure you will."

"Unlikely. We can never get out of the house." Her eyes narrowed towards her father but I didn't dare look back this time to see Dr. M flirting with some weird, fishy man.

"I'll take you one day when he doesn't know." He winked. She gave a slight laugh, but it was shaky and scared. "Anyway, I just came here to ask you what music you like. So next time we actually have something to listen too."

"Oh right. Next time…" She gulped thickly before looking at me again. "I like the song 'If I die young.'" If I had any smile on my face it vanished completely.

"Why…"

"Just forget it. I'm sorry." I saw tears reach the brim of her eyes right when Dr. M gave another howl of laughter. That pulled my strings. I got up off my chair and raced over to them. I didn't know what it was, but Nudge and the song, Ella and the scared look when she screamed, and her telling me to get my mom away from Batchelder made me lose focus. Of course when you lose focus you completely lose yourself. I tripped over Iggy's outstretched foot on the way, tried to regain balance before falling over but instead my whole arm landed on the skillet. I let out a shriek and Iggy pulled me back.

"Max!" Dr. M cried as she ran over to me. My arm was burning and red and it felt like my flesh was coming off.

"Fuck!" I mumbled well enough for nobody to hear me.

"I'm sorry Jeb, I'll be right out." She said, before grabbing my shoulder gently and leading me inside. I could hear Iggy say;

"So for dinner today we have fresh steak with extra Max'alicious flesh."

"Hey, hey, I'm fine." I grinned.

"Right." I walked after her all the way to the bathroom where she took out toothpaste and turned back to me. "I'm going to put this on your arm, you just relax." I nodded. As long as something as stupid as this was keeping her from this so called 'Jeb' I'm cool with it.

Ten minutes later food was ready, Dr. M was talking to the girls away from Jeb, and Iggy was having a conversation with Gazzy. I still had toothpaste on my whole arm but my main concern was where Fang was.

"I'm going to go wash this off." I told Dr. M. She smiled warmly and nodded. Once I was in the house I ran up the stairs and knocked on Fang's door with my good hand. There was a tiny feminen groan which caught my attention. I leaned into the door to try listening to the whispers. There was a loud giggle and a shh. My heart dropped and why did it drop? I have no idea. Are siblings supposed to be happy for their hot brother and some tramp? I felt the knob turn and backed up quickly.

"Max?" Mouth puffy, cheeks red, hair messy and a heaving naked chest. Fang wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before placing it back on the door knob.

"I…" The fact that another girl could have Fang pissed me off. It set me on fire and he seemed to notice. He was about to head out and close the door behind him when a small red head wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his divine back. I bit back a snarl.

"Is this your new sister?" She whispered in his ear, then licked it at what she thought was seductively I guess. Fang didn't seem to move an inch. "Does she carry the bathroom with her?" She laughed.

"Okay, you need to go." He said. She purred softly and unlocked her arms from around him. She was missing her shirt, showing her lacy pink bra. I shook my head with disgust noticing I wasn't breathing.

"Food-food's ready." I managed. Then I ran down the stairs without even daring to look back.


	8. Chapter 8

Max! Max! MAX! It's your damn brother for goodness sake! How come it's so hard for me to stop thinking about his love life? Stop thinking about the girls he slept with, or is doing stuff with? Blood boiled through me and I felt my whole body reacting to what I had just witnessed. 1) Fang rather hook up with a red headed tramp instead of eat. (though I suspect he would be hungry after all of those…activities.) 2)….Yeah got nothing. 1 seems to work best for now.

On my way down I knocked into Angel who was soaking wet with BBQ sauce all over face. "Sorry!" she laughed. Oh well, she wasn't the only wet one right now… MAX! Good God I need to stop. My mind is getting dirty and inappropriate all because I'm obsessed with my stepbrother.

"It's alright sweetie." I was about to walk around her when one of my genius ideas struck me. "You should talk Fang into coming down stairs. He's really lonely in his room. All _alone._"

"Okay!" She said brightly, running past me for the last set of stairs. I smiled, that should be interesting. Once I made it back outside I headed straight to the table but was cut off by Iggy.

"What now, Ig?" I sighed. He pointed the fork at my still tooth pasted arm.

"Weren't you going to wash that off?"

"Aw shit…" This time I actually thanked God that Jeb and Dr. M weren't paying attention to what we were doing. I got on my knees beside the pool and washed off the toothpaste in the freezing Chlorine water. Ladies and Gentleman, forget Chlorine when you can have toothpaste. No more brushing your teeth. When I was about to get up I felt strong hands on my waist and before I knew it I was head first in the deep end sinking to the bottom. I looked up to see a foggy tall figure with messy black hair. _Fang. _

"Hope you had fun scaring a six year old." He said once my head bobbed up.

"So you were doing something narsty?" I smirked. He bent down and I swam towards the wall. Now about three inches away from him I noticed his mouth was a straight line again and his eyes weren't dark with lust.

"Narsty? Are you four?" Did I actually say Narsty? Well damn…it.

"C'mon! Angel is smart enough to knock on your door before barging in! That should have given you enough time to understand you need to un-straddle the ginger and open it!" I said sternly. I looked behind him but nobody was listening. Iggy was hitting it off with both the sisters while Gazzy and now Angel were digging into their steak.

"I know what this is about now…" he said.

"Ruining my jeans and leather jacket?" I questioned with a quirked eyebrow. This made him look down at me and I realized my breasts were popping out. I cleared my throat to get his attention back.

"You want me." Silence. More silence.

"WHAT!" I shrieked. "Are you insane?" This time everyone did look at us. I pushed him back so I could get out of the pool, noticing I was giving him a full up and down look of my body.

"Max, Fang, come eat!" Dr. M said, waving her hand towards the dinner table. I stood up and whirled my hair hitting Fang with painful water drops. Well I hoped they were painful since it hurt my neck just flipping my hair.

Dinner was awful after that. The food was great but my appetite was completely lost. I couldn't even swallow a fresh BBQ burger without thinking of Fang saying I want him. It wasn't true. _Wasn't. _Was it? Dear God.

"How's it like taking care of two girls?" Dr. M asked. Nudge and Ella snapped their attention to Jeb, completely forgetting about Iggy's sarcastic remarks.

"Challenging at times. But I love them and won't let anything hurt them." Jeb said smoothly as he gave a warm smile in their direction. Nudge stood up immeditly and headed over to Iggy across from her.

"Lets swim." She said. Ella nodded and Iggy nearly jumped out of his seat. Now it was Dr. M, Jeb, Fang, Gazzy, Angel and me. Untill Angel decided jump into the pool just to bother Iggy.

"Jeb seems nice." Gazzy mumbled around his burger and steak. I handed him a napkin to wipe his face. He was always a messy eater.

"I am nice." He smiled. Gazzy looked up in surprise.

"wow, you have good ears." Gazzy replied. Jeb, liking what he had just heard, smiled.

"I work in a lab. Sometimes I get to give kids their hearing back."

"How nice." I said hotly. Jeb locked eyes with me but I looked away quickly when a shiver went down my spine.

"Tell me more about yourself, Max." He said. Dr. M looked at me gently and now all eyes were on me. Oh what a day.

"Why?" I finally asked. He shrugged,

"You seem interesting to me." Interesting enough to be put in your lab maybe? Where is this so called lab?

"I don't talk about my past, _sir. _But I would love to hear yours." This made Fang nearly choke on his half eaten third steak and Dr. M's eyes turn mildly sad.

"I don't think that's fair, sweetheart." This time his eyes weren't warm to match his fake smile. I took one finally bite of my steak before getting up and walking inside. I knew Fang followed for the sounds of his heavy footsteps.

"Maybe since you're new around here you won't get grounded." He said, voice sweet, warm, sexy.

"I hate him." I said simply, crossing over to the living room to have a seat on the couch. Fang sat beside me and lifted up my legs so they were placed comfortably on his thighs. If my brain wasn't already fuzzed out because of Jeb, it was definitely now. "what…"

"You seem stressed." He said, messaging my feet. I stifled a moan and leaned my head back against the arm rest.

"Stop." I managed. His hands stopped his actions but never left my skin. He slid them around my ankles and up my legs, stopping at me shins.

"I love how you get jealous." His voice was husky now andi could barley control my tiny squirm of want. He bent down to graze my legs with his lips. "Your mood swings." He kissed up to my knee then back down to my calf. I couldn't breathe. Every part of my body turned off and just let go of my brain. I sank into the couch with a tiny moan and I felt him smile into now my ankle.

"Fang, stop." But he didn't. He lifted his face up to look at me and before I knew it I was on top of him, straddling his perfect waist.

"What happened to Fang stop?" He mimicked. I let out a breath when his breath ghosted on my neck. Then he placed his lips there leaving hot open mouth kisses all the way up to my earlobe and back down. "You don't want me then?" He gave a breathy laugh.

"No…" I whimpered when he bit down on my neck softly.

"No?" He licked the spot he bit and I nearly collapsed.

"I do." I finally breathed. In a flash I was off of him, heart beating faster than a mother. He got up with a satisfied grin and walked away. I heard him yell out,

"Knew it." Before he was gone. No. No no no no no! First off, what the hell? Not only was I probably the most confused teenage girl on the planet, but I was now marked by Fang who did only God knows what with red head and I liked it. I more than licked it. I loved it. Ever since I felt his lips on mine I couldn't stop but think about him. My body still tingled form the sweet sensation.

How could he just leave me like that though? Was he in love with the red head and just wanted to prove to me how much I wanted him? Why do I have so many fucking questions? And why can't I stop cussing! I really need to get my mind off Fang.

A loud vibration cried out for attention a second later. In front of me was Fang's cell laid out on the couch with one new message. It must have fell out when he was suffocating me! Yeah, that's good. He was suffocating me. That's why I was so hot and breathy. Perfect, Max. I nearly tackled his phone when it vibrated again.

Okay, all I had to do was flip it and see who it is. I don't actually have to read it… "Yo, Mom wants you out there with the others." Iggy said. Then he got a good look at me and backed away.

"What kind of animal attacked you today?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and got up pushing past him. "I see the phone, you know."

"I know." I smiled before heading out again to see everybody laughing. Gazzy and Angel were shooting water at one another with a little water gun. Fang was seated on the diving board looking up at the pink skies. Ella and Nudge were fighting and laughing over the beach ball.

Iggy and I went different directions. He headed over to Jeb and Dr. M while I went over to the fence where I had a good look of the Batchelder's yard.

"You should get in, Maxie!" Angel cried. I turned around and placed my back on the fence.

"How cold is that water?" I asked.

"You felt it already, remember?" Fang said. Was it possible to hate and like a hot guy at the same time?

"It's not that bad once you get used to it!" Nudge said, splashing some water towards me. That's what they all say.

"Alright." I smiled. I took off my jacket and jean shorts and headed towards the pool.

"OMG Max you're so pretty!" Nudge squealed. Ella nodded beside her.

"She is! And she's my sister now." Angel said proudly. I gave a laugh.

"Thanks, my mom got this for me." I said, dipping my feet in the ice cold water. Oh yeah, it's not that bad….

"Fang!" Gazzy yelled. But Fang didn't seem to hear. His eyes were locked on me from what I could see from the corner of my eye. I could help but blush. Maybe this is good payback from teasing me earlier. I had his phone in my jacket pocket and I was half naked. I hope he drowns in shame.

But this couldn't be payback for what he did to me. This isn't even close. "Fang!" Gazzy tried again. There was no reply so Gazzy aimed the gun at Fang's head and sprayed. Alarmed, Fang completely forget he was on the diving bored and dropped into the pool. This caused a huge corruption of laughter. I fully got in and ducked under water to see him give me the finger. I pulled back up and grabbed the wall a second before he did.

"Gosh Darn Fang." I snapped sarcastically. "Maybe you should let Jeb bring back your hearing." He gave a fake laugh and ducked underwater. I felt his hands grab onto my feet but I grabbed onto the wall tighter. "Stop!" I screamed and laughed. It came out a little weird. Gazzy, appearntly on Fang's side for this 'game' swam beside me and dunked my head underwater. I saw Ella come to my rescue and grab my waist pulling me back up. Fang came up and tickled my sides just like the first night and I went down under with him. He was grabbing onto me and we were sinking to the bottom. Oh, who needs to breath anyway? Than I realized I really did need to breath and struggled out of his reach. Nudge appeared beside me and pulled my arms so I broke free. Once Fang popped up Angel sprayed him with her water gun, which caused Gazzy to spray her. Soon enough those two were back to spraying one another.

"About the shopping trip?" Nudge asked, swimming towards me. I nodded gripping onto the wall so I could breath and not get dunked again. "I'm up for it. Whenever you want."

I never went shopping before. What if I disappoint her? "Okay." I smiled.

What seemed like only two seconds later the party was wrapped up and the Batchelder's had to go. To be honest I was kind of upset. Even though it had been almost four hours it didn't seem like enough. Apparently the feeling was mutual fro Ella and Nudge because there smile turned into a scared frown in no time. I didn't see any scars on them though so Jeb probably isn't abusive. But what could make them so scared of him?

"Call us anytime." Dr. M said sweetly, opening the home door for them.

"Of course, Valencia." Jeb said, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. Angel gave a little aww but my blood ran cold. Whatever wa sup with that man I will figure it out sooner or later. When I do I'll make sure Ella and Nudge will never see him again.

After our goodbyes I helped Dr. M clean the backyard while Iggy cleaned the skillet and Fang wa son a search for his phone.

"You and Jeb…" I asked. She nearly dropped the plates she was picking up from the table.

"No." She laughed. "He's a sweet guy, but no."

"Because he seemed off to you, right?" This made her look at me and set down the plates in the sink.

"Off?" she questioned. I shook my head.

"Nevermind. I just.. I'm glad you don't think it'll work." I finally said.

"What's going on? You seem like you don't like him."

"He just looks a little…."

"Suspicious." Iggy finished. I nodded in agreement.

"Exactly." Dr. M laughed like this was the craziest thing she has ever heard. Iggy shrugged and headed back out to put the grill back where it belongs.

"Go shower, Max. We'll talk more in the morning." What? Did she think the chlorine got to me? Well, if she thinks what I say about Jeb is crazy then there's no way in telling her I'm longing for her son.

"fineee." I gave her a hug which she filled up with a kiss to my forehead. Then I took the stairs two at a time and entered my room just to see Fang laying down on my bed with one arm on his abs and the other on his forehead.

"I need my phone back." He said. I shut my door and leaned against it.

"That's great. Go find it then." He looked at me and rolled his eyes. Jumping up off my bed he walked towards me so I was pressed between him and the door. I swallowed thickly and raised an eyebrow. His arms wrapped around me as he stepped closer so he chin was resting on my shoulder, breath warm on the back of my neck. He slid his hands down my back and grabbed my ass, which was now covered back with my jeans. His fingers slid into the back pocket and he pulled his phone out.

"Found it." I pushed him back quickly to walk past him.

"Asshole." I said. He gave me a one sided smirk before opening the door and slipping out. Now I should have been thinking, Damn should have read those messages when I had the chance. Instead I was thinking ….

I'm a very talented girl.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry! I just realized that I had switched from third person to first person these last few chapters! If you don't mind I'll keep up with first person I feel like I can express the feelings of the characters more from this POV. Thanks for reviewing by the way! I would love to hear more ideas from all of you! So don't be afraid to review and jot down some brilliant ideas in your mind for this story!**

**Thank you!**

FANG'S POV

Thinking about Max in a way I shouldn't really makes me frustrated. Why does she have to be so attractive and different? Why could my mom pick out a little girl like Angel, because let me tell you, that would have been a whole lot easier to live with. Just knowing that Max's sleeping next door with her short shorts and gray t-shirt turns me on. How? No idea.

She hates me though. I knew I've been as ass, but how could I not have? She's techniquly my sister now! I can't fall for my own sister! "Screw this." I mumbled, releasing the tight grip I had on my hair. Hopefully I did little damage to my skull. For the first time ever I was glad school was starting in another week. That means more time with Lissa and less time with Max. Maybe I'm really not crazy, maybe I just miss Lissa. Maybe when I was with Max I was hoping it was Lissa instead. Yeah, that's it.

I rolled over to look at the time on the side table but rolled a little too far. In no time my forehead crashed into the wood with a loud thud. "Shit." I groaned, feeling for a scar or huge bump like in the cartoons. Instead I felt nothing but warm blood seep between my fingers. I got up quickly flinging the thin blanket off of me before opening my door with the hand that wasn't bloody. I made my way down the stairs then once I reached the kitchen I noticed the fridge was open wide. Well that's new…

"I went sky diving, na-na-nanana-na-na-na." Angel's tiny voice sang from behind it. I headed over to look behind it and saw her chugging down a bottle of chocolate milk. She looked at me from the corner of her eye but continued drinking.

"Hey Ang." I said weakly half surprised she's awake this late.

"What happened?" She nearly yelled once the milk was back in the fridge. I forgot that I was even bleeding for a second.

"Knocked into my table." Yeah that sounded simply put. "I'm going to get the first Aid kit. Go back to bed, okay?" She shook her head. "Ang…"

"Do you have any idea what time it is." She squeaked. I couldn't help but give her a smile. Some little people are just too cute to deny.

"Actually that's how I got hurt. So Angel, what time is it?" she looked over to the microwave but the electricity seemed to have gone out for the time wasn't on it.

"The storm made all the lights go off." She whimpered, rubbing her bare shoulders for warmth.

"Ah, so that's why a little person like you is up." I grinned at her so she knows my sarcastic remark was in fact sarcastic. She gave me a tired and let out a huge yawn. I turned my back away from her to reach the first aid kit hidden in the top shelf of the closet so Angel couldn't reach for it. When she was two all the way to five she always jacked up the kit and wasted all the designed band aids on her broken dolls. Musty have pulled something in mom.

"Will it stop?" She whispered. I turned on the facet to wipe my hands and forehead before placing the band aid on the place where it was bleeding.

"Don't worry, Ang. It already has." I winked. She let out a long breath of relief as heavy thunder shook the house. She jumped and wrapped her tiny arms around my waist, burying her head in my stomach.

"Will the storm stop?" She cried. "I'm scared."

"I'll take you to mom, okay?" She nodded but then completely changed thought and shook her head. I closed the First aid with the hand that wasn't soothing her hair before lifting her up she could wrap her legs around my torso.

"I have to be a big girl to get my first bike." She said sleepily. I gave out a silent laugh.

"I'm sure mom will still buy you a bike." But she shook her head again stronger this time. "Alright, how bowt I stay with you?" She pulled back a bit to look into my eyes.

"You mean it?" She asked. I nodded and she hugged me again. "All night! Don't back out, I can take care of you." She whispered, her voice becoming more exhausted and sleepy.

"I know Angel, and I'll take care of you."

MAX'S POV

So as much as Fang pretend to be an ass, he really wasn't. Though I knew he would have killed me if he knew I was watching the whole thing between him and Angel last night, it still warmed my heart to see him so caring. Who doesn't want that? Now it makes it even harder to hate him. I wasn't planning on stalking him or to even follow the trail of blood. Truthfully, I was starving from not eating and was hoping to find another slice of steak somewhere in the fridge. Curse me and my huge eating habits.

Now as I lay awake in my bed with the sun streaming in I wondered if Fang really stayed the whole night in Angel's room. Curse me and my curiosity, too. I jumped out of bed and turned out the light switch to discover the power was still out. Oh well, in the orphanage there was barely ever light. Let alone showers and whatnots. Creaking the door softly, I stepped out and tiptoed over to Angel's room to see her snuggled against Fang's stone chest. I couldn't help how my heart melted and the smile that quirked up.

What time was it anyway? Just as I was about to head into the bathroom Iggy barged out of his room and ran into it. "No, Iggy!" I complained.

"I gotta take a dump!" He retorted. I stepped away from the door in disgust and knocked into a sleepy Fang.

"Oh, hey. You're up." I smiled. He rubbed sleep out his eyes and stretched before actually answering.

"So are you. Is the power still out?"

"Yup. I saw you sleeping with Angel." I pointed with my head to her room and crossed my arms across my chest.

"She's scared of storms." He explained. I know, I was about to say but shut my mouth quickly and just nodded. "So when do you think that bathroom will be open?" He asked.

"I don't know, but when Iggy opens that door I'm going in."

"I really need to go." He said. I shrugged my shoulders stiffly.

"And I really need to, too. But since I woke up before you I have a right to go in the bathroom _before _you." I said and he smiled lazily.

"Heads or tails?" I stopped for a second. Who carried money in their sleepwear? Unless he was planning on running away from home. As good looking as he looks waking up I doubt he'll have a problem finding a temporary home.

"Show me the penny first." I stretched out my hand but all he did was laugh. Only this time it actually sounded like a real laugh. He was enjoying this and to say the least, so was I.

"You don't trust me?" He pouted. Curse that lower lip of his. I was cursing everything this morning, wasn't I? I placed my hand on his shoulder and shook my head.

"Show me the penny." I said. He placed his soft hand in my hair and before I knew it pulled back with the penny between his middle finger and pointer finger. "I didn't know you were a magician, too."

"You don't know a lot about me." He replied. His eyes actually looked a little sad at this but I ignored it completely.

"Let's have a day together then." Now where in the world did that come from, Max? He didn't seem the least taken aback by this. His mouth turned into a grin,

"Alright, Max. Pick a day and I'll be there." His eyes were now hooded with lust for a pure second. I couldn't let that go because I knew that Fang did want me. I wasn't the only one, and if it was my turn to be the ass for payback I will be.

"I change my mind. You're going to have to prove to me how much you wanna have a Max and Fang day. Then I'll think about going somewhere with you." His smile faded leaving me with confused eyes. He shook his messy hair before letting out an exhausting sigh.

"You're serious?" His face completely still, his voice monotone.

"Yes Mr. Martinez." Finally orphanage Max was back and this time I wouldn't lose myself to a guy so fast. Iggy stepped out of the bathroom with a loud AHHH. Nothing could get grosser, right? Wrong. Gazzy ran out of his room covering his mouth with one hand, but before he could reach the bathroom he vomited. Knowing there wasn't a point in running anymore he just decided to finish up by the bathroom door. I ran over to him completely forgetting about Fang or Iggy or anybody and pushed back his bangs from his teary eyes.

"Iggy, go get mom." I said sternly. He nodded, dropping his little comic book, and ran down the stairs.

"Hey Gaz, you okay?" Fang asked him. He knelt down to Gazzy's level to look into my little baby's eyes.

"His whole dinner is on the floor." I said softly, afraid I might throw up if I keep staring at the weird looking steak.

"I had a stomach-ach all night." He gasped weakly. I let go of his hair, gripping onto his shoulders instead to lead him into the bathroom. Dr. M ran frantically up the stairs that second and barged into the bathroom to see Gazzy.

"How are you sweetie?" She asked. She grabbed the nearest towel, turned on the sink and wiped his face. Of course she was better at parenting then me, but I still felt a little ping. I wasn't jealous of Dr. M, I would never be. I loved her more then she knew. I just knew that Gazzy had a real mother now and I had to live on being a teenager, flirting with guys (with the exception of my stepbrother) and going out to watch movies with friends.

"I still don't feel well." He replied after brushing his teeth and chugging down some of the faucet water. Dr. M felt his forehead and scowled.

"Max, ca you take him back to bed? He has a slight fever so once he's tucked in I want you to leave the room, okay?"

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked. I realized I had never dealt with sick children before. Nobody in the orphanage was ever sick because of how germless and clean it always was. I was completely new to this.

"I'm getting him some medicine." She smiled. "I'll be right up." I nodded and she took that as her moment to jog down the stairs and hurry to get some meds. Fang grabbed onto Gazzy's one arm and I grabbed onto the other as we both helped him to bed. Once he was in I tucked him in gently and kissed his burning forehead.

"He's really warm." I said frantically. Fang put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

"He'll be fine." He smiled warmly. I lost myself in his eyes but snapped out quickly when Dr. M came back with a glass of water and some medicine.

"Go on, you two." She said. "I'll be out in a minute." We both left the room, shutting the door quietly behind us.

"You're sweet, you know?" I told Fang when we were by our bedrooms.

"Does that mean we can go out now?" he asked. I gave out a laugh that lasted a second and collected myself.

"No. But you can have the bathroom if you want." I said. He looked over at it and shook his head.

"I have one in my room." He smiled smugly. Oh my God… I did too! All this time not having my own bathroom and own room I wasn't used to it. I wasn't even used to not sharing a bed. He must have seen the look on my face because he gave a little shake of the head.

"Why didn't you remind me?"

"Because I thought you were arguing with me for the same reason I was arguing with you."

"Yeah! To use the bathroom!" I pushed past him to enter my room leaving him with his back to me.

"For another reason, Blondie." My hair wasn't that blonde. I gave him a scowl.

"What would that be?" I leaned against my door frame and he turned around to face me.

"So I could spend my morning with you." Holy Mother of all that's living, breathing, eating , drinking or even peeing. I nearly collapsed, but instead cleared my throat. I was pretty sure he saw my moment of shock though, by the way he gave a ghost of a smile.

"Oh you're good." I said. He looked truly confused so I rolled my eyes. "You just said that so I'll melt, didn't you?"

"No, but if it made you melt I guess I'm doing pretty well." I gave a groan and let my hair fall in front of my face to hide my smile.

"You're going to have to do a lot more than that to make me melt." Just as I said that Dr. M came out of the room and looked over at us.

"Oh, you two aren't arguing are you?" she sighed.

"would I ever argue with such a good brother like him?" I said sarcastically. Dr. M laughed,

"I know how you feel." She gave me a wink which I returned before turning back to Fang with a snide smile. "And will you two please take care of Gazzy while I drop Angel off at day care quickly?" Fang nodded but I was still confused about the daycare. since when does a smart little girl like Angel need daycare? "Thank you. Iggy's making breakfast downstairs." With that she headed into Angel's room and woke her up gently.

"Why does she need daycare?" I whispered. "She hasn't been going the past two days."

"That's because mom wanted to let her have fun with her new siblings." He whispered back inching closer to me. I pushed him away weakly with one hand.

"We can take care of her." I argued.

"Trust me, Angel is way more responsibility then you think." I didn't agree with that, but I guess he knew her better than I did so I let it go before I proved myself wrong.

After breakfast I jogged up the stairs to check on Gazzy. Dr. M and Angel had just left leaving Iggy, Fang, Gazzy and I alone at home while Dr. M headed off to work and save more animal lives. "Gaz?" I murmured. A little groan came in response. I shut the door behind me and sat down beside him on the twin sized bed. "How are you doing?" I asked, rubbing away sweat from his forehead. Before Dr. M left she told me he had a stomach bug from something last night. Yet I couldn't place the fact that Iggy had undercooked something. He has been cooking almost all his life and Gazzy had never gotten sick from any meal.

"I think… I think Jeb…" he let out a breath.

"Jeb?" I asked. He nodded weakly,

"He had something in his hand and placed it in my food." He finally managed. My eyes shot down to him in alarm.

"What?" I hissed.

"He…he put it for Nudge. Bu-but Nudge wasn't hungry anymore so I ate her steak for her." He explained before shutting his eyes and grimacing from the pain in his stomach.

"Shh. Go to sleep, okay? I'll check on you again soon." Before he even had a chance to nod his eyes were closed and heavy breathing took over the silence in the room. I barged out and shut the door behind me, taking the stairs two at a time. I knocked into Iggy on the way down but instead of forgetting it he held my shoulders firmly.

"whoa, what up? Why doe sit look like you're about to kill somebody" he asked, though he wasn't so far off.

"Jeb!" I yelled.

"What about him?" Fang asked from the bottom of the stairs.

"He did something to Gazzy! In the food he put something on the steak! Gazzy probably thought it was seasoning or something! But that son of a bitch!" I cried. Iggy pushed me back against the wall.

"How do you know it wasn't seasoning and Gazzy just ate too much?" he asked again.

"Because it was Nudge's steak originally." I shook. Iggy's grip loosened on me as he stepped back. Fang's eyes turned darker than usual before he turned around and made his way out of the house and across the yard to the Batchelders'.

"Wait, Fang!" Iggy yelled, jumping down the rest of the flight of stairs. I followed quickly and sprinted up to Fang who was now by the door. He let out three loud knocks but there was no reply. Another three. No reply. We all stood there for a moment before Nudge's voice called out,

"Who is it?"

"Nudge, it's Max. We need to talk."


	10. Disclaimer

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT ON MR OR ANY PART OF IT. **

**I keep forgetting to put that! It maybe a litttlllee bit important **


	11. Chapter 10

**I know I haven't written anything and a VERY long time. I was insanely busy, and, well, I couldn't think of anything to write about. I need ideas, help, anything. I would love suggestions if anybody has any. I'm so sorry for just stopping this story out of the blue. I promise to right at least a couple times a week if people actually like this story. **

**Thank you for those we review! It really does make me happy to know what you think! Don't be scared to be open! **

***I do not own MR or any part of it***

Listen, I'm all up for the helping people and creating a better life for those like me, but when a little girl's scared to open the door it really screws things over. Iggy tried soothing Nudge to get her to unlock the only thing in my way of knocking out that Jeb guy, but she wouldn't even budge. Honestly, after a while I had a feeling she headed back upstairs.

"Nudge, c'mon!" I groaned, "We're not going to cause a scene." Reasoning with this girl was like reasoning with a wall. Maybe the wall would have been easier to deal with, though, considering you could hit a wall without it getting its feelings hurt, and it makes you feel much better. At the orphanage I used to do it all the time, imagining it was Miss. Goldren.

"I-I can't" The sound of her whisper sent all three of us back in action, "Please, just leave." I could tell she was crying from the way her voice broke halfway through the sentence, and it made me feel so completely useless. I was used to crying, sobbing, weeping, howling, and whatnot, but not when I couldn't even do anything about it.

"I'll call the cops." I said, knowing I was pushing this way out of line. In truth, how in the world was I supposed to know these girls were actually in trouble? The seasoning could have had something Gazzy was allergic too… I rubbed my temples with my palms quickly to relieve some stress.

"Way to not make a scene." Iggy mumbled. I gave him a 'really?' look before turning my attention back on the door. The door that was slowly becoming my morning buddy.

"Nudge, Gazzy's sick." Fang took over. I heard a tiny gasp from the other side, but nothing more after that.

"We think Jeb had something to do with it." Iggy explained, and a beat later the door flung open and a murderous Nudge stood behind it. I was surprised that glare didn't make me flinch, because if look could kill Nudge would be on the 'Most Wanted.'

"Leave my dad out of." But there was something in her voice. Something under all that fury that sounded scared, worried. Her eyes welled with tears, but before she let them fall down her high cheekbones, she shook her head and took a breath. "Don't come back here."

"Nudge, we can help!" Iggy argued, "We could-"

"Get. Off. My. YARD!" She bellowed, cutting Iggy off completely. We were all at loss for words, but the sound of the door slamming in our faces awakened us.

"She's scared." I whispered. I had a feeling I knew why, but I wasn't going to throw out accusations this soon. I barely knew the girl, or her father.

On our way back home Fang finally spoke again, "I saw it too." When Iggy and I just looked at him, he explained farther, "about being scared. It was all there."

"It's not our business." Iggy replied.

"Of course it is-"

"No, Max, listen." Iggy cut me off, "we have no right to investigate what goes on in that house. We need to take care of ourselves before thinking about others. Hell, we just moved in." A part of me knew Iggy was right. What goes on in other people's homes was their own business, but I couldn't just forget everything I witnessed. Instead of arguing against it, I stood on my tip-toes and hooked an arm around Iggy's neck to bring him down to my level,

"When did you become so wise?" I teased. He gave out a fake laugh before answering,

"Don't speak too soon. Eggs are probably burning."

So after our little 'chat' with Nudge, we finally sat around the table and ate a decent breakfast. Of course Iggy's food was amazing, I just didn't have a taste for anything. Gazzy was upstairs throwing up every hour, while Mrs. Martinez was helping him re-brush his teeth. Nudge and Ella were caged in, what I'm sure, an abusive home, and Angel was alone in daycare. Not that I felt too bad for Angel, considering she had no idea what was going on at home, but I still didn't understand why she needed daycare over the summer.

"You know what would be amazing?" I asked Iggy, although I surely didn't mind the attention Fang gave me that same second.

"More salt on these eggs?" he replied with a mouth filled with bread, eggs, and salad. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help and give a grin,

"If you try talking to Nudge alone."

"Max." He said sternly, and I knew to just shut up. Iggy rarely has those stern, solid moments, but when he does I know better than to argue against him.

"Well I'm stuffed." Fang said, breaking the tension. He was sitting right across from me, so I knew perfectly well when he was looking at me and when he wasn't. Right now? He was smoldering me, almost as if he was digging into my brain to see how messed up it truly is.

"Me too. Thanks Ig." I got off my chair, carrying my plate with me to the sink without meeting eye contact with Fang. This little 'win a date with Max' thing was starting to freak me out. One look into his beautiful eyes and I was a goner for sure. I couldn't let him face victory so quickly, especially not in front of Iggy. God, this was so wrong.

"I'll do the dishes," I volunteered, already turning on the faucet.

"You don't have to yet, mom hasn't eaten." Fang called back from the dining room. There goes the little time I had to myself. I turned off the water and spun around to press against the sink.

"So what're we doing today?" I heard Iggy ask Fang. Jealousy swept through my whole body, and before I knew it my legs had gotten me to where Iggy and Fang were still sitting around the dining room table. I folded my arms across my chest,

"You two are going out?" I questioned. Fang nearly snapped his head from it turning around so quickly, and he gave a tiny smirk that disappeared before I could take a mental picture.

"Just going to introduce Iggy to some friends." Fang said innocently, getting up with his plate. Iggy grinned, placing his hands behind his head.

"A hot chick or two…" He said dreamily. In a typical situation I would have slapped the back of Iggy's head and told him to grow up, but why shouldn't he have a little fun? Besides, no matter how much I wanted to hang out with Fang for a day, a night, a life time, maybe more, I was trying to resist him. Trying to figure out the real him before he takes my heart, completely.

"School starts in two weeks, Max," Fang almost breathed to the side of my face. I was so busy looking at Iggy's distant face expression to notice Fang was already in the kitchen and back, behind me. "Better find some friends, as well." I held strong, giving no signs that just his voice made my head spin. Instead of turning around to answer him, I kept moving forward, ran up the stairs, and headed to Gazzy. It was probably one of the hardest things I had done, and I was pretty damn proud. That was until I saw how pale Gazzy was and Mrs. Martinez's exhaustion. I knocked softly on the open door to get either one's attention, but that was when I noticed Gazzy was sleeping and the only person to answer was my mom.

"Oh, I'm so glad you came up. I was scared to leave him to call you."

"I'm here." I smiled, "anything you want, I'm all ears." It surprised me how much I was willing to help out this woman. It wasn't only because Gazzy was in need, although the was most of it, it was also the sincere love in her eyes. The way all the warmth in the world was just held there. That was when it snapped at me how something was so, horrifyingly wrong with Jeb and his household. Eyes say everything.

"I hate to make you do this, but there's a pharmacy a couple blocks away from here." I really hope she wasn't asking me to drive. Driving+Max=death=no life with Fang=worse than death.

"Er…"

"Maybe you could catch a ride with Fang and pick up the medicine I ordered?" How could I say no to this woman? I just nodded my head before making my way back down the stairs.

"Fang?" I called. No answer. "Iggy?" I tried again. No answer. Did they really leave without saying anything? I debated going back upstairs to tell mom that I couldn't go, or just walking there. How bad could a couple blocks in the summer heat be? Besides, I needed the exercise. The last time I went on a jog was so long ago it hurt my brain to remember. With a long sigh, I finally agreed on the walking part and headed out before I changed my mind.

The walk was incredibly stress relieving. After passing Nudge and Ella's house I had a clear brain to think about this new school thing. My first day in a high school is in two weeks and I couldn't help but freak myself out. What if I'm a freak there? What if everybody sees right past me? Sees how crazy and messed up my life is? What about Gazzy and Iggy? How will they hold up? Then I reminded myself who I was. How strong I have grown up to be, and walked the rest of the way just enjoying the sun and warm wind.

I wasn't sure how much time past by when I finally reached a small drug store and headed in. It was so much darker in here than outside and I automatically missed the fresh air. Air conditioning was no problem either, but being cooped inside a crummy orphanage for so long you develop a new appreciation for nature.

When I saw the pharmacy sign signed with relief that I had come to the right place and my legs made it over there before I could process what I was doing. I really hoped Gazzy wasn't in pain, and still peacefully sleeping. This must be the worst day ever for him. I was so caught up in my thoughts that when I ran into a girl with the brightest red hair. If I didn't know what the sun looked like, I would have thought she was it.

"God, why can't people see where they're going?" She exclaimed, raising both hands in the air for extra effect.

"Actually, my name is Max," I began, "And sorry, rough day." I stepped away from her and actually got to see how pretty she was. It wasn't only the fact that her red hair made her pale face bolt out, but her thin frame was dressed in probably the most expensive looking clothes. The black romper, and white edges reminded me of what I was wearing. My Hair messed up, my grey shorts riding up my butt, my tank top loose. She let out a tiny giggle,

"I'm sorry. Same here." I saw she was holding a box of new hair color, and I imedditlay wondered if her hair was naturally red. She saw me staring and cleared up the confusion,

"My boyfriend makes fun of my hair color."

"So what? I think it's amazing!" I argued. She let out a sigh, staring down at the box before looking back at me.

"You don't understand, though." She said, "he's very…repulsive... when it comes to getting what he wants."

"I say screw him." I wasn't sure what made me talk to this girl, but I realized it wasn't awkward or weird. If girls at my new school were like this, what's the worst that could happen? She let out another laugh and started walking, waiting for me to follow. I wasn't used to just following, but I did anyway, mostly because she was headed towards the pharmacy as well.

"Been there, done that." Oh… She gave a warm smile and shook her head, "I'm not a whore, although my reputation isn't the greatest, I do care for what I do. Or, who I do."

"I'm sorry, I don't really know what to say to that." I laughed nervously. We made it to the pharmacy and I let the red head get what she needed before I got what mom asked for. Soon enough, I was holding a box of Advil and walking into the checkout line with the redhead.

"So Max," she changed topics, "you're definitely new here, right?" Guilty as charged.

"Starting junior year in that high school near here."

"No way? You mean Berkeley High school?"

"Yeah." I smiled, but this time when she smiled back it looked so familiar. So, incredibly, familiar. Then my breath hitched, time stopped, and I was at loss for words. This was the same girl in Fang's room. The same one who was all over him… the red head… Lissa? Lissa who wasn't supposed to be in California! Lissa, who was supposed to be where Fang used to live, far away from here? I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear her hair out. But then I wanted nothing. She was nice to me. She was sweet, and kind.

"Well I'm new too!" Her grin could have broken her cheek bones if she kept on smiling that big, "I only know one guy in this new school, but I'm so glad I met you."

"I-I never got your name." I managed. She didn't seem to notice me at all. Maybe for the fact that the hallway was dark when I called Fang to eat, or maybe because she was intoxicated by Fang himself. I sure was. I thought back to when she said boyfriend. She couldn't mean Fang, right? He would never get disgusting over hair color. At least, I hoped not.

"Lissa!" I swear my gulp sounded louder than a scream. When she finally finished checking out we walked out together. I was about to say bye, but she insisted we exchange numbers. When I was finally ready to sprint home and have a talk with Fang about Lissa's hair, she offered me a ride. With the way I was already sweating, I couldn't decline. We talked a little more about useless things that aren't typically important. Hair, food, clothes. I felt like a completely different person around Lissa.

Although she had that popular girl, I have everything personality at times, she truly liked to talk to me. Two new girls in a whole new school, obsessing over the same guy? I sense a whole new kind of friendship burning.

**Thank you for reading! **

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